Tuition and fees made up 47.8 percent of Boston University’s total revenue in 2008, according to the Annual Financial Report. Such a high dependency means growing anxiety as enrollment officials try to ensure that the incoming Class of 2013 will be large enough to meet the school’s fiscal needs.
Uncertain financial times may cause students who would normally attend BU to choose a cheaper school instead, thus driving down enrollment numbers.
‘This is a question that every enrollment professional in higher education is wrestling with at present,’ Vice President for Enrollment and Student Affairs Laurie Pohl said in an email. ‘It is very difficult to predict.’
BU President Robert Brown said in a letter to the faculty and staff on Jan. 12 that a main concern for BU officials ‘is the ability of our students and their families to continue to afford a Boston University education in the face of the recessionary pressures that they undoubtedly are experiencing.’ Brown said officials estimated a $10 million budget gap for fiscal year 2010.
‘We are putting into place the financial reserves we think are necessary to mitigate a decline,’ Pohl said.
Staff layoffs are imminent, and administrators will be looking into cutting redundancies, Brown said in a town hall meeting with faculty and staff on Jan. 22.
The hiring freeze Brown put in place last fall will help the school through financial hard times, as well, Pohl said.
‘These actions are intended to put us in a better position next year in the event the economy worsens,’ she said. ‘My sense is that we are doing the right things now to protect BU and its students in the future.’
A President’s Host, who wished to remain anonymous because of job policy, said she thinks the economy might affect students’ decisions, but she has not been receiving more frequent questions on financial aid.
‘People are more concerned with the quality of their experience if they choose to attend a private school such as BU,’ she said.
Although there have been fewer people touring on certain days, she said an accurate comparison cannot be made until the peak season in April.
‘That’s really when everyone starts coming,’ she said.
Meanwhile, high school seniors are making difficult college decisions during one of the worst economic recessions in recent history.
‘Tuition is a huge factor on where I go,’ Lap Nguyen, a senior at Morris Hills High School in New Jersey, said. ‘It wouldn’t matter if a college promised me a job starting out with a huge salary, I wouldn’t go if I would have over $200,000 in student loans.’
Nguyen has not heard from BU yet, but would love to go if he gets enough financial aid, he said.
Leanne Hoppe, a senior at Christian Central Academy in New York, said the economic situation did not affect her choice to apply early decision.
‘Either way, BU is an expensive school,’ she said. ‘However, I got a really nice scholarship, and I’m committed to going already.’
Jen Pugh, a senior at Weston High School in Connecticut, said she also did not take the economic situation into consideration.
‘The economic situation did not at all determine where I applied, because I believe the decision should be based on how much I could see myself at the school,’ she said.
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